Cheese plant gets a boost

MARKET LUBBOCK has reached beyond the city limits to award $250,000 in economic incentives to a manufacturing facility to be built in the area.

Market Lubbock Inc. has approved a $250,000 economic development incentive for a $200 million cheese plant that could be located in Plainview, Muleshoe or Hereford.

Rance Miles, chief executive officer of Select Milk Producers Inc., said Friday his company has arranged financing to build the plant that could employ 120 people and cre ate hundreds of spinoff jobs.

He said the plant would need dozens of dairies in the area to provide a daily supply of 120 truckloads of milk.

Each dairy, he said, would cost $15 million and employ 30 people.

"We are very seriously pursuing the project of a cheese plant in that West Texas area, as well as eastern New Mexico," Miles said. "It would be a substantial project."

Select Milk Producers is a cooperative based in Artesia, N.M., with operations in eastern New Mexico and West and Central Texas. The company produces and markets more than 3 billion pounds of milk annually.

Miles said Select intends to announce a decision within 90 days, and he hopes the plant will open in the spring of 2004.

"The thing that's going to dictate where this plant goes is where most of the milk is and where it's going," Miles said. "Economic development in centives obviously are something that are important to us, but it's not going to be the overriding factor when it's all said and done."

The Market Lubbock payment was authorized at a board meeting last week and remains unexpended. Other cities vying for the plant are expected to provide $1.5 million or more.

Plainview Mayor Lloyd C. Woods declined to provide specific information about his city's incentive package, saying he did not want to jeopardize negotiations.

"We are in negotiations with them," Woods said. "We certainly are interested. It would be a real asset to this area."

Muleshoe Mayor Victor Leal said, "We visited with them a little bit. Really, I have no indication which way they're going to go."

He, too, declined to offer specific details.

Both Market Lubbock board Chairman Mike Field and Chief Executive Officer C. David Sharp were away from their offices Friday and could not be reached for comment.

At a Lubbock City Council meeting Thursday, Council man Victor Hernandez disclosed that Market Lubbock board members had approved the payment. Without revealing details, he criticized Market Lubbock for spending money in another city.

"I'm really troubled by that," Hernandez said at the meeting. "That's city of Lubbock money going to another city."

"That caught my eye, too," Councilman Alex "Ty" Cooke said. "I hadn't said anything because I want to take a closer look at that. It could be something outside of the city that has some benefit to Lubbock."

Miles said the plant, the surrounding dairies and the required infrastructure could pump $600 million of capital investment into the area.

"Regardless of where we put that cheese plant, each of those communities is going to benefit," he said.

"It needs an agricultural base to support additional dairies. If we build a $200 million plant, it may result in three or four times that much in cows and dairies and infrastructure to support that," he said.

According to Market Lub bock's mission statement, the organization is charged with "enhancing economic development within and around the city of Lubbock."

Market Lubbock is a private corporation funded annually with $2 million of property tax revenue from the city of Lubbock. The funding is designated for economic development projects that create or retain jobs or add property tax value.

City Manager Bob Cass said Market Lubbock had the authority to provide the incentive without city approval.

Under state law, the nature of a proposed economic development project may be withheld from public disclosure. Disclosure must be made after public funds are spent.

"My understanding is it's just a proposal," Cass said. "It may be one of those things that never gets done."

Miles said a plant location near Lubbock is attractive because of Lubbock Inter national Airport. He said he also has discussed the project with Amarillo officials.

If he could pick a location based on dairies, he said, he would locate the plant in the middle of a triangle connecting Hereford, Muleshoe and Plainview.

However, he said the infrastructure and amenities of a city require a location in a community that already is developed.